Research & Publications
Access in-depth resources and analysis published by the 勛圖眻畦 regarding our most pressing civil liberties issues.
勛圖眻畦 2024 Annual Report
The 勛圖眻畦s 2024 annual report highlights how the organization worked around the clock this year to safeguard voting rights ahead of the November elections, protect bodily autonomy, defend free speech, and much more. Alongside breakdowns of the 勛圖眻畦s key wins and efforts throughout 2024, the report tells the stories of 勛圖眻畦 activists, advocates, and clients who are on the front lines of this fight.
All Publications
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The Senate Torture Report
The executive summary, findings, and conclusion of the Senate Intelligence Committees landmark torture report.
Miscarriage of Medicine
The number of Catholic acute-care hospitals has been increasing rapidly, threatening women's access to reproductive health care, according to a report released by the 勛圖眻畦 and The MergerWatch Project. The report finds that:
Between 2001 and 2011 the number of Catholic-sponsored or -affiliated hospitals increased by 16 percent, while the overall number of hospitals nationwide declined.
In 2011, one in ten acute-care hospitals were Catholic-sponsored or -affiliated.
That same year, 10 of the 25 largest hospital systems in the country were Catholic-sponsored.
With the rise of Catholic hospitals has come the increasing danger that women's reproductive health care will be compromised by religious restrictions. The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (the Directives), issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), govern care at these facilities. The Directives prohibit a range of reproductive health services, including contraception, sterilization, many infertility treatments, and abortion care, even when a woman's health or life is in danger. Moreover, they often restrict even the ability of hospital staff to provide patients with full information and referrals for care that conflict with religious teachings.
The report also shows that Catholic hospitals do not provide more charity care or care to the poor than the average hospital. The report includes recommendations about how to ensure Catholic restrictions do not interfere with patients' rights and to protect access to comprehensive reproductive health care.
A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses
For 3,278 people, it was nonviolent offenses like stealing a $159 jacket or serving as a middleman in the sale of $10 of marijuana. An estimated 65% of them are Black. Many of them were struggling with mental illness, drug dependency or financial desperation when they committed their crimes. None of them will ever come home to their parents and children. And taxpayers are spending billions to keep them behind bars.
READ STORIES FROM A LIVING DEATH
Explore the Report:
- Executive Summary
- Recommendations
- Methodology
- Findings: The Use of Life without Parole for Nonviolent Crimes
- How We Got Here: Skyrocketing Extreme Sentences and Mass Incarceration
- Case Studies: 110 Offenders Sentenced to Die in Prison for Nonviolent Crimes
- First-Time Nonviolent Offenders
- Nonviolent Teenage Offenders
- Tying Judges' Hands: Mandatory Life without Parole
- Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses under Habitual Offender Laws
- Life without Parole for Marijuana
- Life without Parole Due to Crack/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
- Aging and Elderly Nonviolent Prisoners
- Terminally Ill Nonviolent Prisoners
- The Reality of Serving Life without Parole
- The Financial Cost of Sentencing Nonviolent Offenders to Life without Parole
- Comparative International Practice and Fundamental Rights to Humane Treatment, Proportionate Sentence, and Rehabilitation
Take Back the Streets: Repression and Criminalization of Protest Around the World
In June 2010, hundreds of thousands of Canadians took to the streets of Toronto to peacefully protest the G20 Summit, which was taking place behind a fortified fence that walled off much of the citys downtown core. On the Saturday evening during the Summit weekend, a senior Toronto Police Commander sent out an order take back the streets. Within a span of 36 hours, over 1000 people peaceful protesters, journalists, human rights monitors and downtown residents were arrested and placed in detention.
The title of this publication is taken from that initial police order. It is emblematic of a very concerning pattern of government conduct: the tendency to transform individuals exercising a fundamental democratic right the right to protest into a perceived threat that requires a forceful government response. The case studies detailed in this report, each written by a different domestic civil liberties and human rights organization, provide contemporary examples of different governments reactions to peaceful protests. They document instances of unnecessary legal restrictions, discriminatory responses, criminalization of leaders, and unjustifiable at times deadly force.
A Death Before Dying: Solitary Confinement on Death Row
Most death row prisoners in the United States are locked alone in small cells for 22 to 24 hours a day with little human contact or interaction; reduced or no natural light; and severe constraints on visitation, including the inability to ever touch friends or loved ones.
This stark reality endures at a time when the United States experiment with the death penalty is at a crossroads. On one hand, in 2013, another state repealed the death penalty - Maryland. That makes six states in the last six years - Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, and New York - that have repealed the death penalty, bringing the number of states without it to 18. Today, more than half of the states have either eliminated the death penalty completely or have not executed anyone for at least 10 years. Thirty states, plus federal and military jurisdictions, have not executed anyone in at least 5 years. This steady march toward repeal seems to indicate that it is only a matter of time before the Supreme Court will declare the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment and bar its use nationwide.
勛圖眻畦 Magazine
Published twice a year, 勛圖眻畦 Magazine shares updates on the 勛圖眻畦's critical litigation and advocacy work across the country and tells the stories of the activists, attorneys, and clients at the heart of each case and campaign. To receive 勛圖眻畦 Magazine by mail, become a monthly donor today.